My Family is a Matter of Life or Death
by not the hat
Summary: For Skye it isn't because she wants to it's because she has no choice.
1. Chapter 1

_**Set at the end of season 1 episode 5**_

* * *

"I didn't want anything to…" I start, trying to explain everything before Coulson yells, "Stop lying!"

I flinch.

"Since the moment you stepped foot on this plane you've been lying to my face, to all of us." In all honesty I haven't ever lied to them I just failed to supply them with the whole truth. I equivocated. A skill I learnt as a child never tell a lie just don't expand on the minimal truth the other person knows so that they think they know all and hold all the cards.

"I haven't…" I try to explain but Coulson cuts me off again.

"You're lying to me now. I stood up for you to my team down there. And some of us started to believe in you, risked our lives for you." That hurt. I suddenly feel as if I had let him down. I had let down the kindest man I have ever come across. Admittedly, I didn't come here with a mind set to disappoint everybody. I just came for the information it gave me access to. The information that really was a matter of life or death.

I feel rotten from the inside out, more than I ever had. "I…" I try to explain, to tell him how I feel, however, I am unable to find the right words.

"Why are you here? You've been keeping secrets from us this whole time and it wasn't just a boyfriend. You have a secret Skye and one chance to come out with it. That is now, or I'm done with you." Coulson's words cut deep and I know it is time to come clean otherwise this would all be nothing my search would practically be over and in all honesty I should spend the rest of my short life doing what I want rather than chasing down a miracle.

I pull out the SD card from my bra and hand it to him. "What's this?" He asks.

"Everything I have" I admit and of course, he takes it the wrong way.

"On us" I can hear the disappointment and hurt in his voice.

"On me" I inform him and it is. It is everything that was in my files before I got rid of them. That SD card holds my entire life story on it. It also includes the one document I have found in the search for my parents. "That's why I learnt to hack systems. Why I joined the Rising Tide. To find any details I could about my parents. There's nothing. No records. There is no trace of them. My life in the hands of a search that has led to a single document redacted by S.H.I.E.L.D." I explain to him. "I need the answers that S.H.I.E.L.D. are covering up."

"You might not like what you find." He tells me. It wouldn't matter, if they don't help me well; chances are I won't be around long enough to really care about who they are.

"I need to try," I say simply.

"Why? You keep talking as if this search for your absent parents is a matter of life or death. Why?" Coulson asks and I can tell he is actually curious as to why I am so adamant that I need to find my parents. So I take a deep breath and look him straight in the eyes.

"Because it is. Next time I relapse I won't be able to survive unless I have a bone marrow transplant." He looks shocked and saddened, I guess I do hide the fact I am a cancer patient well.

"How long have you had leukemia?" He asks softly almost as if I could break at any moment.

"I was eight when I was first diagnosed and underwent a year and a half of chemo until it went into remission when I was ten. I relapsed at sixteen and had another two years of chemo lasted another two years in remission before another relapse, had another two years of chemo. I have now been in remission a year." I tell him keeping my voice as steady as possible "The doctors don't think I will survive my next relapse without a transplant." I watch his face uncertain of what he will do when suddenly he tells me to "stay here" before rushing away leaving me to wonder what he is planning.

When he returns he appears to be holding a DNA testing swab.

"Open wide" he says before swabbing the inside of my cheek. Yep, totally a DNA test. He screws the swab back into the jar to stop it being contaminated before explaining. "I can't help you with the document as it is level nine, I might be able to pull some strings but it will take time, so I thought we could run a DNA test and see if anyone in the S.H.I.E.L.D. database is a match."

I jump up and hug him. "Thank-you" I tell him. "You have no idea how much this means to me." This has to be the single nicest thing anybody has ever done for me even after I betrayed him as well.

I turn to leave the office before turning back to him. "Feel free to read the rest of the files on the SD card. It won't be a pretty read but if you want to you can read it" I tell him knowing that he won't use what he finds in there to hurt me in any way shape or form. I leave Coulson's office with an enormous grin on my face.

* * *

 **Coulson** **'s POV**

As soon as I learnt why Skye was here, I knew I had to help her; the question was how? The redacted file she had found was level nine, one level above my own clearance. I could talk to Maria, call in a favor, but even though she would try her best, who knows how long that would take.  
Then it hit me.  
A DNA test.  
It might not go anywhere but it might just.

"Stay here." I told Skye before I exited the office. I went down to the lab, which was miraculously empty due to the fact Ward and Fitzsimmons had decided to play a game of Scrabble to distract themselves. I took a DNA testing swab and made my way back up to Skye.

"Open wide." Is all is said before I swabbed the inside of her cheek. I made sure the sample wouldn't get contaminated before I explained to Skye. "I can't help you with the document as it is level nine, I might be able to pull some strings but it will take time, so I thought we could run a DNA test and see if anyone in the S.H.I.E.L.D. database is a match."

Before I knew what was happening I was engulfed in a hug and Skye was telling me "Thank-you. You have no idea what this means to me." I looked into her eyes and I knew that was true. There is no way I can ever fully understand the consequences of my actions as I have never and will never be in the position Skye was in.

She started to make her way to the door but stopped halfway there and turned back to look at me. "Feel free to read the rest of the files on the SD card. It won't be a pretty read but if you want to you can read it," She told me before she finished her journey out of my office.

Deciding to leave Simmons to her game of Scrabble I sat down and began to read.


	2. Chapter 2

Skye was right. Nothing on the SD card was a pleasant read and it made my blood boil to learn about what she had gone through, she was only a child. I knew the system had cracks but Skye seemed to fall through every single one, her hand seemingly being dealt by the devil himself.

A total of thirty-seven placements in eighteen years, never spending longer than six months anywhere including her stints in an orphanage called Saint Agnes' Orphanage. Never being a right fit and after using up her chances at a good family the system let her down and just carted her off to another house to suffer in when the time came for her to once again leave the orphanage.

Time after time, Skye was sent to a house just to get abused in anyway possible and the only way her stay in those homes ended was with a trip to the E.R. There was one family that looked hopeful, the Brody's when Skye or should I say Mary Sue Poots (I can't blame her for changing her name) was seven, however after an unfortunate car accident in month six both died and a seemingly unharmed Skye was sent back to the orphanage. I can't possibly begin to imagine the amount of pain that must of shrouded Skye's life from the day she was born, being passed from pillar to post, not wanted anywhere, nobody caring.

You wouldn't know looking at Skye the troubled past she has had.

She looks and acts as you would expect a normal person to. Okay maybe at times she can be excessively happy, but you wouldn't suspect any kind of trauma in her past. Nothing in the way she acts would possibly make you think her past was any different from the white picket fence that is society's norm. I know now that isn't true and that she hides it away better then anyone I have ever met, she has even managed to hide her scars that I know she has from us and most of the clothes she wears appear normal so she is obviously very skilled at hiding the tortuous childhood she as lead, not letting anyone see a shred of evidence that she isn't just like everybody else.

I am surprised that Skye is as adjusted as she is given that her childhood was one giant river of pain and abuse, never drying up.

I look at the clock and decide that now is as good a time as any to ask Simmons to run the DNA test. It is a welcomed break from the heart wrenching files I am reading.

I pick up Skye's DNA and head down to the lab where Fitzsimmons are now having an argument I can't even hope to understand about one of the new inventions they are working on. I clear my throat to get their attention; they turn and look at me. "Simmons, I need you to run a DNA test for me and see if you can get a match on the S.H.I.E.L.D. database and I need you to keep it off the books." I tell her handing her Skye's DNA. I had realised that whatever was in Skye's redacted file must by extremely important for it to be level nine so it was best that nobody knew what we were doing in case it endangered anybody. I decided to not even tell Simmons that it is Skye's DNA.

"Of course Sir" she says compliantly, although I can tell she is curious and I am thankful that Simmons has restraint when it comes to asking questions because I really don't want to lie to her. I will if I need to, I just don't want to.

"Come and get me when the results come in" I tell her before retreating to my office.

* * *

 **1 Hour Later**

I hear a knock on my office door disrupting me from the endless pile of paperwork I had decided to sift through whilst waiting for Skye's DNA results to come back. "Come in" I tell whoever is behind the door.

Simmons opens the door and steps in "the DNA test you had me run has come in Sir." She informs me.

"and?" I ask her anxious to know if Skye's search has come to an end.

"There was a match but I am sorry Sir I do not have the clearance level required to open the personal file. It has a level eight-clearance level. I have sent it to you Sir." Simmons informs me.

"Thank-you Simmons" I say dismissing her. Once she is out of the office, I turn my attention to the personal with the unusually high clearance level. I guess I should count my blessings that it is level eight rather than nine like the redacted document Skye found.

I open the file, I can't believe what I see.

I didn't even know she had a child.

How was it even possible?

How could Natasha Romanoff be Skye's mother?


	3. Chapter 3

**Coulson's POV**

I couldn't believe my eyes Natasha Romanoff was Skye's mother.

I knew before I told Skye I would have to talk to Natasha.

I knew I wasn't meant to contact her. She and Clint weren't meant to know I was still alive, none of the Avengers were, but I knew them and I knew that they would already know.

So with only slight hesitation I picked up my phone and called her.

It rang three times before I heard her familiar voice saying "Romanoff"

"Natasha it's me" I said knowing she would recognise my voice if nothing else.

"Coulson. When I get my hands on you." She said and I knew that when she next saw me I was going to have a lot of explaining to do. "What do you want?" She asked getting straight to the point, same old Natasha.

I took a breath. I really hadn't thought it through. How was I supposed to explain to the world's best assassin that I had found her daughter and that wanted to meet her? So doing it the only way I knew how I got straight to the point. "Your daughter" I said and with those two words, I heard Natasha let out a gasp and what sounded like a chair falling over in the background.

After a minute or two of silence, Natasha asked, "How the hell do you even know about her?"

"I picked her up a few weeks ago; she is now a member of my team." I informed her.

"I left her in China. Nobody should even know she exists. Who knows?" Natasha asked and if she had a panicked voice I knew she would have been using it.

"Just me and you. But I will have to tell her." I tell her knowing it wouldn't be fair to Skye not to tell her who her mother was now that I found out.

"No." She says with conviction. She said it with absolute certainty that Skye should and would never find out who she was.

"I have to Natasha, she will want to meet you," I tell her knowing it to be true. Even if Skye didn't get to form a relationship with Natasha, I knew she would at least want to meet to see if Natasha would be able to donate her bone marrow. And he knew that Natasha would go through with the testing. She wouldn't let an innocent die if she could help it.

"Coulson…" She starts presumably to tell me how much of a bad idea it would be or threaten me, however I don't let it get there.

"Look. If I can organise a meeting without anybody but the three of us finding out will you come?" I ask her. There was silence on the other side of the phone that seemed to last an eternity.

"If you can organise it, I might think about it." She said before ending the call. I smile. Now all I have to do is find a way to set the meeting up.

* * *

 **Natasha's POV**

All of us were sitting around the large table Tony had furnished the dining room with eating dinner. It was one of the rare occasions where all of us were home and didn't have to be elsewhere busy saving the world. About halfway through I hear my phone ring. Everybody quietens down and I answer it. "Romanoff."

"Natasha it's me" I hear from the other side, about time he called.

"Coulson. When I get my hands on you…" I trail off. I know he was just following orders. I didn't bother hiding who was on the other side, as by this time we all knew he was still alive. Tony had found out when he hacked S.H.I.E.L.D. on day and seen fit to inform the rest of us. Know of us were happy that he had hidden it from us but eventually we all understood. We were angry with Fury more than anybody else.

"What do you want?" I ask, knowing that if he is breaking his radio silence it must be something important.

"Your daughter." I hear him say and I let out an involuntary gasp. How did Coulson know? I left her in China with a loving couple. I look around and see everybody's gaze upon me. I stand up in a hurry, not wanting to have this conversation in front of everybody, not worrying about the chair clattering to the floor behind me.

Once I get to the floor I share with Clint. "How the hell do you even know about her?" I ask him.

"I picked her up a few months ago; she's now a member of my team." Coulson informs me.

"I left her in China. Nobody should even know about her. Who knows?" I ask worried for her safety. If anybody ever finds out, she is my daughter she would have a massive target on her back.

"Just you and me. But I will have to tell her"

"No." I say before I know what I am doing. It is safer for her if she never finds out. If the secret starts and ends with Coulson and me.

"I have to Natasha, she will want to meet you" I hear Coulson say but I can't. I never wanted her in the first place. Forced to have her and then punished when I saved her when I went with every mother's instinct, to give her child the best life possible.

"Coulson…" I start to tell him how much of a bad idea it is but all the possible what ifs can't stop sinning round in my mind.

"Look. If I can organise a meeting without anybody but the three of us finding out will you come?" He asks obviously aware of my swaying ideas.

Before I know what I am doing, I am saying, "If you can organise it, I might think about it." When reality hits I shut off the call in shock at what I had just done. And then a voice from behind me does what many have considered impossible, it made me jump. "Who is this mysterious her you were talking to Coulson about?" Clint asks.

I take a gulp of courage knowing that if I was ever going to meet her Clint deserves to know.

"My daughter."


End file.
